Music, according to the New National Dictionary, means "Art of
combining sounds or sequences of notes into harmonious patterns pleasing to the
ear and satisfying to the emotions; melody". According to the Great
Encyclopaedic Dictionary, this combining of sounds is "for reproduction by
the voice or various kinds of musical instruments in rhythmic, melodious and
harmonious form so as to express thought or feeling and affect the
emotion;" and the word is also used for the "sound so produced,"
and for ‘written or printed score of musical compositions." Not so
technically, it is also used for "pleasant sound, e.g., song of a bird,
murmur of a stream, cry of hounds."
In Islam music is called Ghina, and in Shia Sha’riah is counted as one of
the ‘great sins’. At first, it may seem unrealistic to ban every "pleasant
sound"; but there is no need to be alarmed. The Sha’riah has defined
‘Ghina’ in a different way. In Islam, vocal music means: "Prolongation and
vibration of sound with variation of the pitch to such an extent that people
may say that ‘he/she is singing’."
It is evident from the above definition that the Sha’riah does not forbid
‘pleasant sounds’; but if someone recites any thing with prolongation of sound
and variation of pitch so much so that a common man thinks that he/she is
singing, then and only then it will be ‘Ghina’ a
